SENATOR John Madigan’s attempt to muddy the waters on the Murray Darling Basin Plan is reckless.
The Plan is the result of years of bipartisan support from federal and state governments to resolve deteriorating river health due to over-extraction of water.
The Water Act was passed in 2007 with support from every single Liberal, National and Labor Party member of the Australian Parliament
$10 billion was put on the table.
Critically, the Plan provided long-term certainty for regional communities and the rivers and wetlands on which they rely. Eight years later, a Johnny-come-lately to the Murray Darling Basin debate is determined to deliver uncertainty to regional communities in an attempt to raise his political profile in an increasingly chaotic federal Senate.